UFC on FX 4's Matt Brown looks forward to wedding, time off after third 2012 fight

UFC on FX 4's Matt Brown looks forward to wedding, time off after third 2012 fight

It’s been a good year so far for UFC welterweight Matt Brown (14-11 MMA, 7-5 UFC), but he needs some time off.

He’s done three camps back-to-back and is looking forward to getting out of the gym after he takes on Luis Ramos (19-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) tonight at UFC on FX 4.

But he has a reason to cram all that work into six months: He’s getting married.

“This one happened to work out for my life outside of fighting,” Brown today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I’m getting married in August, and I’d like to be able to take a couple of weeks off for that.

“It works out pretty good where I can take some time off and do my wedding right, and take a nice long honeymoon and not worry about getting in a third fight this year.”

After a setback to Seth Baczynski at UFC 139, Brown has rebounded with back-to-back wins over Chris Cope and, most recently, the heavily hyped Stephen Thompson.

Brown took tonight’s fight as a replacement for the injured Matt Riddle. Brazilian Ramos make his second UFC appearance after a quick knockout loss to Erick Silva in his debut at UFC 134.

Brown would like to replicate Silva’s performance, of course, but hasn’t paid too much attention to his opponent’s state of mind.

“I don’t even look into that,” he said. “It’s one of those things I can’t control. Whether he’s scared and nervous or not scared, it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference to me. Either way, we’re going to get in the cage and do what we’ve got to do. All that stuff is distraction. It means literally nothing.”

It would, however, mean something if he were able to win a lucrative fight-night bonus, which has eluded him in 12 UFC fights. He always seems to be close, and he admits he’s thought a lot about what a such an incentive could do for his bottom line.

“During camp, it’s always on my mind,” he said. “Like, ‘Gosh, what would that bonus do for me?’ Of course, when I walk out of that cage, I’m begging to be the bonus fight. But other than that, I don’t think about it. I come here to win.”

Because the fights have been so close together, he admits he hasn’t had much of a camp for this fight, which airs on the FUEL TV-televised prelims of tonight’s event at Revel Atlantic City in New Jersey. Main-card fights air on FX.

“I took this one on short notice,” he said. “I didn’t really have much of a camp for this one. About the time I started really getting back into the gym and being healthy again, I got the call to fight again.”

But Brown isn’t the type to complain.

“It’s just another day in the office for me,” he said.

And Brown’s fiancee, Colleen, will be in attendance to watch her soon-to-be husband go to work. And she’ll certainly join him in cheering if an extra check comes along for “Fight of the Night.” After all, honeymoons are expensive.

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